Tamil Nadu State government has started distributing smart cards, a common identity system, for all teachers in state schools. The smart cards were expected to be introduced in March 2020, the process got stalled due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. A senior official from the School Education Department told that smart cards will be mandatory for all teachers in government and government-aided schools while on duty.
“We have already started distributing smart cards to the schools and it would be completed before December 31. The cards will be distributed to about three lakh teachers,” the official said. The State government has spent about Rs 1.7 crore for implementing purpose. Post completing the distribution, the new attendance system using scanners for screening the cards will also be set up at all these schools across the State. The state runs 37,300 government’s primary, middle, high, and higher secondary schools and in addition, 8,400 government-aided schools are also functioning.
“The system will verify, match with the stored data to authenticate the user,” the official said, added, “apart from the smart card attendance system, in large government schools, which have more number of teachers, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanner will also be installed at all the entry and exit point of the institutions.” The smart card comes equipped with a microchip, the scanners will capture and store the time and other details whenever a teacher enters or leaves the school, which will be updated with the Education Management Information System (EMIS), a common data base for schools.
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